


of options and comlinks

by mightbemelissa



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It, Skywalker Family, Skywalker Family Feels, anidalaweek2017, happy skywalker family au, let anakin skywalker raise his children okay is that really too much to ask for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-27 15:54:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10812168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mightbemelissa/pseuds/mightbemelissa
Summary: In that moment it seemed like there were only two options: help Master Windu arrest the Chancellor and secret Sith Lord or heed to Sheev Palpatine’s begging and turn against the Jedi. But then, in a split second, a third option revealed itself.





	of options and comlinks

 

In that moment it seemed like there were only two options: help Master Windu arrest the Chancellor and secret Sith Lord or heed to Sheev Palpatine’s begging and turn against the Jedi. To Anakin, it felt as if the same battle that was playing out before him, light versus dark, was happening within his own mind. Windu, a man who seemed to hate him, who would condemn his marriage if he knew of it, and a member of a flawed order, or Palpatine, a master of darkness, the Sith Lord who they have been scouring the galaxy for, the embodiment of everything Anakin had been taught was evil, but also his friend, and the man who promised his wife would live. All the tension within him, all the emotions always pulling at the seams within him seemed to be breaking apart, Anakin wanted to scream. But then, in a split second, a third option revealed itself.

If somebody told him that his comlink beeping would stop him from falling to the darkside, Anakin Skywalker would have laughed, except that is exactly what happened. Anakin and Padmé had an emergency frequency. If used, no matter when or where the other person was the message would go through. Up until that moment of Anakin’s inner battle and the physical fight in front of him, the frequency had never been used. But then there was a beep and the sweet sound of his wife’s voice filled the darkness of the room with light and soothed his inner turmoil, “Ani,” her voice wavered and her mixture of fear and excitement was clear despite the static, “I’ve gone into labor. I’m on my way to Coruscant Medical. Meet me there, please, I need you Ani.”

His wife was scared and she needed him. Palpatine’s promises didn’t matter in that moment, Anakin realized. He’d been so consumed in his own fears he had not spared his wife single thought.

That was the third option, Padmé. Without giving Windu or Palpatine a second glance, Anakin sprinted from the room.

* * *

 

His greatest weakness had always been the fact that he cared too much. The other Jedi shamed him for it, looked down upon his passion and emotions. But in that moment, for the first time in his memory, he didn’t care. He didn’t care what was happening outside of that room. He didn’t care if Mace had arrested Palpatine, killed Palpatine, or been killed himself. He didn’t care about anything other than the sleeping infant in his arms, her twin resting in his wife’s arms, and Padmé. He would find out later that Palpatine was arrested and charged with treason. Even later, Palpatine would be sentenced to life imprisonment and the war would end, the Separatist threat neutralized.  So much was happening, so much would happen soon, and Anakin truly, deeply, did not care.

“I was wrong before,” Anakin whispered softly.

Glancing away from their newborn son to her Anakin, Padmé asked, “About what?”

“This, right now, this is the happiest moment of my life,” Anakin replied, with tears of joy in his eyes and emotions tightening his throat, “Finding out you were pregnant is absolutely _nothing_ compared to this, sitting here with our children, as a family.”

Smiling, Padmé rested her head on Anakin’s shoulder and nodded in agreement.

It didn’t matter what was happening outside that room. It didn’t matter who had won the fight or what would happen after. All that mattered was that they were together with their children. He couldn’t fully wrap his mind around the fact that he was now a _father_ , that the delicate untouched bundle held close to his chest was his daughter, Leia, and the baby in his wife’s arms was his son, Luke. Anakin felt as if his heart was made of light in that moment and nothing else, not in his galaxy or any other, mattered.

“Ani?” Padmé whispered, breaking his train of thought. He looked down at her, noticing the unwavering smile on her face of pure contentment and let out a soft hum to let her know he was listening. “Sometimes dreams are just dreams.”

Looking down at Leia and Luke, there was no room for argument. Smiling brightly, he pressed a kiss to his wife’s forehead, and agreed.

* * *

 

 Two weeks later he left the Order. He walked into the council room, told them all he was married and had two newborn children, placed a lightsaber in the center of the room, and left. The Council didn’t need to know he had two spare lightsabers at his apartment, he decided.  

Three weeks later he was hired Coruscant Security Force, they needed somebody with his skill and knowledge. He was given a high ranking position in the department, able to have reasonable hours. Every night Anakin would come home with time before dinner, every morning he would leave well after breakfast. If he was home, the hired nannies weren’t. Anakin wanted to be a father in every possible way. That was why he left the Order, after all.

Despite turmoil in the Senate and Republic as a whole due to Palpatine’s betrayal, Padmé took a four month long paternity leave. She revelled in it. She loved being with her babies. She loved being with her husband. The fact that she could be with her husband openly and honestly was perhaps the greatest gift she had ever received, second only two her children. When she returned to the Senate both her and Anakin would leave together in the mornings, handing off Luke and Leia to their two nannies and a well prepared C3PO. Every night when she would come home Anakin would already be there, often lying on the ground playing with the twins. If anyone asked either Anakin or Padmé, which many holonews reporters did, they would honestly answer that they were living the best days of their lives and they could only see it getting better from their.

Like all newborns, Luke and Leia would cry. Often. There was very little sleep for anyone in the apartment for the first weeks of their lives. Anakin and Padmé would both take a crying infant and pace the room, tending to their needs until they would drift off. Even after Padmé resumed her senatorial work there were still many nights with at least one crying baby. Both parents cherished those moments because it proved to them that it was all real. Nobody would dream of being sleep deprived and yet there they were, exhausted but happy. During the late nights, Anakin and Padmé would talk in ways they never had a chance to do before. For the first time, despite being new parents, they were living their day to day lives as husband and wife. They were able to have mundane conversations and they cherished those moments because they had been so rare before.

But Padmé’s favorite moments were when she would come home from the Senate late. She would slip into the apartment as quietly as possible, exhausted and ready to pass out. And every one of those nights Anakin would wait up for her. Or he would try to. Instead, she would come home to a dark apartment with her husband on the couch, both him and the two babies draped across his chest asleep. In those moments she would have a thousand choices but would always chose the same one, to slip onto the couch in the space beside Anakin and drift off to sleep with her family.

It was always about options for Anakin and Padmé. The choice to be together despite the risks, the choice to fight in the war, to live their lives. Out of all those options, the best one either had picked was that moment, when Anakin listened to his comlink instead of warring forces. It was that option and all the choices before that moment that led to them, with their children, in love and dreaming only the sweetest of dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my submission for day one of Anidalaweek2017. This, and all of my other submissions, can be found on my [tumblr](http://estrangedlestrange.tumblr.com/)


End file.
